Contactless Limits

Globally established as a safe, highly secure and popular payment method, more and more merchant payment terminals include a contactless payment symbol indicating that NFC payments can be made at the terminal.  

Contactless or Near Field Communication (NFC) payment methods include bank issued debit/credit contactless cards, key fobs, mobile devices (using Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay, Fitbit Pay, etc.) or any financial institution’s mobile application with contactless support. 

Faster and more secure than transactions performed using dip or swipe contact cards, contactless NFC transactions are performed by consumers placing a contactless card or device within two inches of a contactless device to initiate their payment. While Contactless payment transactions have the same protection as chip and PIN payments, a contactless NFC transaction can be conducted without entering a PIN which has some inherent risks associated with it. 

SWITCHWARE® support of contactless payment transactions allows for the unique identification of contactless transactions from acquiring payment terminals. By identifying these transactions, SWITCHWARE allows financial institutions to implement customized cardholder transaction limits, including daily, and per transaction PIN-less limits on NFC transactions purchases and withdrawals.

When these limits are reached, the financial institution has the ability to reject the transaction authorization request or force the cardholder to perform a “contact” transaction with a PIN reducing fraud and mitigating risk. In some regions of the world, including Europe), Visa and MasterCard are also supporting more stringent measures for tracking and managing contactless transactions.  Under the more stringent measures, once a Low Value Transaction (LVT) limit is reached (established by the card issuer), the issuer can respond with a specific decline code instructing the cardholder to enter a PIN on a PIN entry device (PED) instead of requiring an additional tap at the PED or the need to perform a chip and PIN transaction.  

Contact Us for more information on CSFi Contactless Limits Support and Visit CSFi.com to for additional CSFi POS and mPOS support solutions of potential benefit to your enterprise.